The deputy president of the Ulster Farmers’ Union, Glenn Cuddy, has confirmed he is in the early stages of depopulating his birth-to-bacon pig unit on his farm outside Donaghmore in Co Tyrone.
Cuddy, who farms alongside his wife and two sons, is among a number of suppliers to the Sofina Foods pig factory in Cookstown who have received notification from the company that their pig contracts will end later this year.
“For the first morning in 42 years we are not serving sows on the farm because we have no market for them. It is an awful position to be in. You would have to wonder where we are going as an industry,” he told attendees at a pig event held at AFBI Hillsborough last Thursday.
It is understood that over 30 local producers are potentially impacted across two marketing groups, with Sofina looking to cut their weekly kill by over 3,000 head.
There are also fears, as well as a growing sense of anger, that some of these farms could potentially be swallowed up by larger suppliers who face no restrictions in the number of pigs they can supply processors.
A meeting between the UFU and management at Sofina is due to take place today (Thursday).
That follows on from call from the UFU back in May for Sofina to provide clarity on its future plans for pig slaughterings in NI.
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